After meeting with Minister Horsman in October 2015, the National Farmers Union in NB is still awaiting a response regarding changes to farm vehicle registration in NB. NB farmers pay the highest farm vehicle registration fees in the Maritimes. PEI pays only $10 per vehicle/per year and Nova Scotian farmers pay about 30% of what NB farmers have to pay for the same vehicle weight. When all vehicle registration fees were increased by 7% in September 2015, both general farm organizations came together to request that farm vehicles not only be exempt from this increase but for an overall reduction in fees.
Along with a fee reduction to allow NB farmers to remain competitive with other provinces, the requests included online registration of farm-plated vehicles, a monthly registration option for farm-plated vehicles and the allowance of vehicles other than trucks to be eligible for farm plates if it is a primary farm vehicle.
NFU-NB president Ted Wiggans says that, “If New Brunswick farmers are to compete with their Maritime counterparts, they should be playing on a level playing field.”
Under the current system March 31 is the expiration date for all registered farm vehicles and to have impact this year the changes need to be put in place very soon.
Source: NFU